*** This story appeared in the Bristol Herald Courier on Jan. 15, 2008 ***
MACES SPRING, Va. - The Carter Family Fold's board of directors has voted to remove a descendant of the musical family, partly due to a spat over an agreement he unilaterally arranged involving 30 years worth of audio recordings.
The departure from the board of Dale Jett, grandson of Country Music Hall of Fame performers A.P. and Sara Carter, underscores divisions over how to preserve the family's musical legacy. Jett's agreement with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill over the recordings has created a dispute that has both sides consulting attorneys.
Jett resigned his post in response to a Dec. 3 letter from board President Howard Klein and was then formally voted off the Carter Family Memorial Music Center board of directors during a Dec. 15 meeting.
"It was a while in coming. The board was very torn about it, but the board was going in one direction and Dale was going in another," Klein told the Herald Courier in a telephone interview Monday.
At the heart of the dispute was an April 2007 agreement Jett signed with the university. Under the deal, Jett sent about 4,000 audio cassettes containing 1,500 hours of live performances from the Carter Fold to the school's Southern Folklife Collection, Klein said.
Jett did not respond to messages left Monday at his home and on his cell phone.
"This began as a project to find the best way to preserve 30 years of tape recordings from the Fold. I don't know when it changed into giving the collection away," Klein said. "The board never knew about this."
Klein's account is disputed by Maxine Kenny, former project director of a grant from the Virginia Humanities Foundation to preserve the Carter Fold's audio archives.
Kenny, who left the project in response to Jett's departure, said in a written statement that the board was notified of the agreement with UNC in April, the month it was signed.
Steve Weiss, director of the Southern Folklife Collection at UNC and the person who signed the agreement with Jett, said he was first approached by Kenny in November 2006 to assess the preservation needs of the audiotapes.
The "potential transfer of materials" grew out of the assessment, which concluded that the materials were "endangered" and in need of storage facilities with "better environmental controls," Weiss said by phone Monday.
Under the agreement, the Carter Fold would receive half the profits from any recordings released by the university, according to materials provided by Kenny.
Weiss' points of contact were Kenny, Jett and his wife, Teresa, he said, adding that they were "comfortable" with him because he conducted the assessment, and because of the collection's past projects involving materials from the Carter family.
Accounts differ as to when the tapes were actually transferred. Klein said they were sent to UNC in July, while Weiss said he received them on Sept. 27. Both Weiss and Kenny emphasized that the Carter Family Fold retained the rights to all recorded materials. Weiss' staff pledged to digitize, organize and store the audio recordings at no charge.
"We were under the impression that [Jett] was going to consult with the board and that he had the authority to do this," Weiss said.
It was not until Nov. 26 that Weiss learned otherwise in an e-mail from Klein informing him that the agreement was invalid and requesting that the materials be returned.
Though Weiss and his staff ceased work on the Carter collection, he said the matter is not settled.
"What's come into question is how binding is the agreement," Weiss said. "I feel like I can't really do any of those things [requested by Klein] on behalf of the university without consulting legal advice," he said.
He declined to say whether he has done so.
"We've checked with our lawyer and the gift agreement is invalid," Klein said. "A not-for-profit organization cannot act without board approval. We didn't approve it because we didn't know about it."
Klein said Jett told the board he "did the right thing" and defended his decision to send the tapes to North Carolina.
"Dale was responsible, early on, for those recordings. He may have thought those were his tapes," Klein said.
The agreement Jett brokered with Weiss is part of a pattern of behavior, according to Klein and other board members, in which Jett acted without board knowledge or support or sharply disagreed with board decisions.
"That's [dispute] not why we voted," Klein said. "Dale didn't want to work with us on a lot of things."
Those concerns were outlined in the Dec. 3 letter to Jett.
"A majority of the board has instructed me to tell you of their deep and irreversible conviction that they no longer wish to go on as a divided and contentious board," Klein wrote. Doing so would "seriously weaken the CFMMC by causing the loss of valued current members," he wrote.
The letter included a "non-negotiable offer" for Jett to resign his board seat and become senior artistic adviser to recommend artists and help plan programs. It also encouraged Jett to continue performing and directed him to "refrain from actions" that would harm the center and its mission.
Jett declined the advisory position and has stopped performing during the music center's weekly Saturday night programs.
Rita Forrester, Jett's sister and the board's secretary, abstained from the Dec. 15 vote and declined to answer questions.
"I love my brother very much and prefer not to comment on something so deeply personal and heartfelt," Forrester said in a prepared statement.
"Everybody on this board loves Dale," Klein said.
Raymond McClain, a board member and the center's acting artistic director, declined to discuss how he or anyone else voted at the Dec. 15 meeting. He did say Jett wasn't asked to stop performing there, but took that action himself.
"My hope is that, in time, everybody will come together. I don't think there's anybody who doesn't want that," McClain said.
The Carter Fold is one of eight major venues that comprise The Crooked Road, Virginia's heritage music trail ? a nonprofit tourist development program funded by the state.
"The Crooked Road is aware there has been a change and Dale Jett is no longer at the fold," program Executive Director Bill Smith said. "The Crooked Road will do whatever we can to support the Carter Fold. It is too important to the music. While it [Carter Fold] is a major partner in The Crooked Road, we have no role in its internal operations."
Board member James Bryant recalled the last time he spoke with Jett ? two weeks before the Dec. 15 vote.
"We videotape all the performances and I get all the performers to sign an artist release," Bryant said. "I asked Dale to sign his release and he said he would, but it was the last time and he would never be back to the Fold again."
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